captioning funded by cbs and ford >> pelley: the first boy to die was wrapped in the grief of israel. in june, the night his mother sat up worrying, 16-year-old naftali fraenkel and two friends were kidnapped, and later, shot by palestinian terrorists. the next day, israeli terrorists kidnapped a palestinian boy, same age. mohammad abu khdeir was burned alive. within days, it was war. ( explosions ) and not in 50 years were so many children about to die in the holy land. >> safer: this is inside the washington monument the moment an earthquake struck washington, d.c., in 2011.

one of the nation's most treasured memorials now had to close. it would take a superman to put it back together again. but in fact, it was clark kent in a suit and tie, armed with just a blackberry and a passion for american history. >> a shorter version of it... >> safer: he is david rubenstein, and he spent hundreds of millions of his own fortune to help save the monument and some of the other great symbols of american democracy. >> kroft: "60 minutes" is constantly on the lookout for places we've never been before. so when our late colleague bob simon heard about a magical place in the hebrides islands off the coast of scotland known for making some of the great whiskies in the world, well, the story spoke to him. >> simon: ( laughs ) cheers. >> we get literally thousands upon thousands of single malt tourists coming here. they come from all over the world just to set foot on islay.

>> simon: to study it? >> no, to drink it. >> i'm steve kroft. >> i'm lesley stahl. >> i'm morley safer. >> i'm bill whitaker. >> i'm scott pelley. those stories tonight on "60 minutes." sometimes romantic. there were tears in my eyes. and tears in my eyes. and so many little things that we learned were really the biggest things. through it all, we saved and had a retirement plan. and someone who listened and helped us along the way. because we always knew that someday the future would be the present. every someday needs a plan. talk with us about your retirement today. bring us your aching and sleep deprived. bring us those who want to feel well rested. aleve pm. the only one to combine a safe sleep aid... plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. be a morning person again with aleve pm.

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>> pelley: the war began with the murders of three teenage boys. by the time it was over, more than 500 children were dead. for 50 days, this past summer, israel and the palestinians of gaza fought their bloodiest war since 1967.

and some of the images of the battle in our story tonight are hard to watch. where the decades of suffering go from here depends not so much on a thousand threads of tangled talks, but on one question that comes before all others: can peace be taught to children who have learned only the lesson of war? the first boy to die was wrapped in the grief of israel. in june, the night his mother sat up worrying, 16-year-old naftali fraenkel and two friends were kidnapped, and later, shot by palestinian terrorists. rachelle fraenkel said the eulogy at a national service. >> rachelle fraenkel: the eulogy was turning to my son and talking to him, and to the people that were searching so hard and that were praying so hard, and recognizing that we're going to live on with other blessings we have in our lives and that this is something we'll

keep inside of us. it's how special he was to us. >> pelley: the next day, israeli terrorists kidnapped a palestinian boy, same age. mohammad abu khdeir was burned alive. within days, it was war. and not in 50 years were so many children about to die in the holy land. palestinian rockets, plentiful but unguided, punched wildly into israel, inflicting fear but limited damage. israel struck gaza with digital domination, blasting neighborhoods into seismic collapse. we flew a drone over part of gaza to comprehend the scale. the palestinian health ministry says civilian deaths in gaza

came to 1,492. six civilians were killed in israel during the battle. israel lost one child, gaza lost more than 500. >> scott anderson: if you look at the average ten-year-old child in gaza today, they've been through now three large- scale conflicts, and it's a pervasive climate of fear of the unknown of what's going to happen next. >> pelley: scott anderson cares for a quarter-million children in gaza in 252 schools. after 21 years in the u.s. army, he became deputy director of the u.n. relief and works agency which has sustained gaza with schools, homes, jobs, and food for seven decades. what is it like to be a child in gaza? >> anderson: very difficult. they have no idea what it's like to have electricity 24 hours a day.

they have no idea what it's like to have heating all the time. people have lost their family members. their homes have been destroyed. schools have been destroyed. that takes a toll on children. >> pelley: during the war, his classrooms became kitchens and shelters for more than half a million gazans. some of the u.n. schools were attacked, and this past monday a u.n. investigation found that israel hit seven schools killing 44 people. but the u.n. also blamed palestinian militants for hiding weapons in three vacant u.n. schools that were not hit. >> anderson: this conflict is probably the most widely talked about, widely written about, and least understood conflict in history. >> pelley: this history begins in 1947, when refugees from israel's creation compressed into a strip 32 miles by seven. in 2006, gazans elected a government led by hamas, which the u.s. says is a terrorist group.

israel responded by sealing the borders and bankrupting gaza's economy. hamas burrowed tunnels under the blockade for trade and terror. this summer, hamas attacked israel to lift the blockade and israel invaded gaza to destroy the tunnels. 66 israeli soldiers were killed. but in the end, as usual nothing really changed. ( sirens wail ) in israel, air raid sirens are as familiar to children as the lunch bell. in gaza, a new generation is rising on the ruin of the last and neither child knows the other. >> jim gordon: does it seem strange that i would work in gaza and in israel, too? >> yeah. >> gordon: yeah. >> pelley: dr. jim gordon is an american psychiatrist working both sides. he's a professor at georgetown

in washington, and director of the center for mind-body medicine. these israeli kids spent the war scrambling for shelter. they can't or won't talk about it. but dr. gordon has another way in. >> gordon: draw yourself with your biggest problem, whatever that means to you. okay, do you understand? they come in often frozen, but then they do the drawing and the drawing is of a destroyed house, of bloody bodies in the street. >> pelley: only a few hamas rockets were lethal, but 3,000 were launched, and in israel today, their arc, on paper, hits targets of the imagination-- a home destroyed, the wounded in an ambulance. rachelle fraenkel's six surviving children were all within range. >> fraenkel: anybody that lives under missiles lives in terror. if you know you're five seconds away from needing to choose which child to lie over to protect or to grab to the shelter.

you can't imagine what kind of life it is. >> gordon: for these children, it's as if the bombs were still falling now. so they're just as anxious they're just as likely to be aggressive, they're just as fearful and withdrawn. and the parts of the brain that are concerned with thoughtful decision-making, with compassion for others, are shut down. so you're... you're just like a scared animal in that state. >> pelley: one scene these kids can't picture is dr. gordon just five miles away, in gaza. the kids in gaza are wearing down the same red crayons. azar jendia, nine years old, shared her pictures with us. >> azar jendia ( translated ): this is the building where my father was bombed. it collapsed on my father and two uncles. half of my father's head was gone. >> pelley: show me the next

picture. this is you? >> jendia: this is me. i drew myself inside a grave, a martyr next to my father. >> pelley: and this is a coffin that you're in? >> jendia: yes. >> gordon: they wish, "if only i had died, then the family would have been together, and we would've all been together." and they do wonder. and that's one of the things that our groups help them find out is, "why am i here? why was i spared?" >> pelley: three days a week week after week, they draw talk, draw again. after sketching their problem, they picture a solution. this came from a nine-year-old boy. >> gordon: the solution to this pain and this loss is that he wants himself to become a martyr, a suicide bomber. and so what we see here is a suicide belt, and you see it around his waist. >> pelley: who was he going to bomb? >> gordon: going to bomb israelis.

going to bomb the people who killed his father. >> pelley: that answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up?" may be fatal to the future because of the inescapable demographics arising on every apocalyptic playground. that's the thing that really gets you about gaza is the enormous number of children in the neighborhoods. about two million people live in gaza, and it turns out about half of them are under the age of 18. a local university did a survey after the war and found that 20% of the kids witnessed a death in their family. 35% saw destruction at or near their home, and 40% are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. we found these children in the remains of their home. they're the grandchildren of ahmed karim audha. the loss of his life's work has broken even his voice. before the blockade, audha was a

successful contractor. he built this home, in the arab way, to hold all of his generations. his five sons lived here with their families. 50 relatives in all fled before the crosshairs settled and a missile vaulted from a helicopter. he's saying, "even the animals have better lives. our suffering is worse. can we not have a home to live in?" what is it like for the children to be living here? he told us, "things are worse after the war than during the war." they wake up in the middle of the night horrified. we don't know what's wrong with them, but we try to calm them down. >> gordon: we put all the drawings down here... >> pelley: dr. gordon told us, with enough time, about 80% can see beyond war.

azar, who colored herself dead came through the therapy with a dream. >> jendia ( translated ): my wish is to become a heart doctor because, after the war, a lot of people had heart problems so i want to treat them. >> pelley: it looks like there are many people who need your help. >> jendia: yes. >> pelley: how did you start to feel better? how did you get from the first picture to the last picture? >> jendia: the doctors helped me change, helped with my problems, and helped get the sadness out of my heart. >> pelley: we don't want you to have the wrong idea about gaza. while many neighborhoods were ground to powder, much of gaza city is alive again. and a recent poll shows that hamas is still favored by a slim majority. >> is it cold in summer?

>> pelley: scott anderson's u.n. schools, for the most part, have returned to teaching. what are the needs here right now? >> anderson: the number-one need is to find a way to lift the blockade and restore economic opportunity here in gaza. >> pelley: what's at stake? >> anderson: the future's at stake. you know, there's been a lot of militant activity in gaza since i've been here, a lot of rockets being fired, a lot of younger men joining the factions. you know, my personal opinion is that's more because of lack of opportunity than any great desire to fight and die. you know, if they had jobs, if they had stability, if they had families, i think they're less likely to engage in that kind of activity. but with unemployment at nearly 50% of the population in gaza, unfortunately, the factions are the ones that pay. >> pelley: one of the things that you said during the war was that maybe we can teach our children that we want to live in peace.

how do you go about doing that? >> fraenkel: i have no easy answer for that. my children, their brother was murdered by a hamas terrorist. and it's very easy to let them grow up hating arabs, and i make a point of not doing that. >> pelley: a lot of people would forgive you... >> fraenkel: yeah, it's not a matter of forgiveness, it's a price you pay when you grow up on hate. it's not something i'm willing to... to pay. i want my children believing in a world that has a lot of good in it. >> pelley: the price paid in a 68-year conflict is inherited as a debt, one generation to the next. the summer combat ended as it always does-- both sides buried their children and claimed victory. >> cbs money watch update brought to you in part by:

>> glor: good evening. mcdonald's new c.e.o. unveils his turnaround plan for the company tomorrow. despite pressure from some shareholders adidas insisted today it will not sell reebok. and the biggest hedge fund conference of the year, south las vegas opens on tuesday. i'm jeff glor, cbs news.

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>> safer: think about it-- beyond your income taxes, how much money would you give to help the government? for one wall street titan, the answer is hundreds of millions of dollars. david rubenstein is the all- american-- at age 65, a self- made billionaire who's pledging a good part of his fortune to save america's history. when an idea strikes him, he just might write a check for

say, $15 million or $20 million. among his recipients-- the washington monument, thomas jefferson's home monticello, and just last week, the iwo jima memorial. and he's buying up rare historical documents, preserving them for generations to come. this is inside the washington monument the moment an earthquake struck washington d.c., in 2011. one of the nation's most treasured memorials now had to close. it would take a superman to put it back together again. but in fact, it was clark kent in a suit and tie, armed with just a blackberry and a passion for american history. >> david rubenstein: it's a monument to our first president and to the revolutionary war general. >> safer: how did he manage to pull it off? not with muscles but with money, lots of money. >> rubenstein: it's a shorter version of it. >> safer: our clark kent is

david rubenstein. when he heard about the damage he offered to pay the $15 million it would take to repair it. isn't that what government is supposed to do? >> rubenstein: well, the government doesn't have the resources it used to have. we have gigantic budget deficits and large debt. i think private citizens need to pitch in. >> co-chair of the campaign for the national mall david rubenstein. >> safer: congress, not wanting to be shown up by a single patriotic american, ended up offering to split the bill and the monument reopened to much fanfare last spring. ( applause ) he's so far spent over $50 million on rare historical documents like original copies of the declaration of independence and the emancipation proclamation, which now hangs in the oval office. and he's looking to spend millions more to restore national monuments like the lincoln memorial and the homes of the founding fathers. >> rubenstein: in honor of

george washington, we built the washington monument. >> safer: we met up with him at mt. vernon, george washington's home, where he gave us a tour and an impromptu history lesson, which led inevitably to the founder's teeth, or absence thereof. >> rubenstein: george washington only had one tooth, and he used that one tooth to kind of hold in his dentures. and they were called wooden teeth, but not because they were wood-- they were animal teeth, but he had a doctor in new york who was named dr. greenwood and it was shortened to "wooden teeth." what they do is they take animal teeth, put them together in a denture. but you need something to hook it onto, so he had his one tooth. and that's why you'll never see a picture of him with his mouth open, because didn't look good. >> safer: you're somewhat of a george washington scholar. >> rubenstein: well, i wouldn't say a scholar. but i'd say a fan. >> safer: why did you choose him? >> rubenstein: as it was said at his funeral, he was "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen." >> safer: unlike most multi- billionaires, rubenstein doesn't

have a foundation and personally oversees each gift from his modest washington office. how do you make the judgment because you don't have a staff correct? >> rubenstein: i don't have a staff. but i generally look at things where my money will make a difference. and in patriotic philanthropy, i... i think i can do some things. because not as many people are doing things in medical research or other kinds of areas like that. >> safer: but you seem to make these decisions spur-of-the- moment. >> rubenstein: sometimes, the best decisions in life are on the spur of the moment. so i generally try to do what i think is right, and sometimes i make mistakes. >> safer: care to talk about your mistakes? >> rubenstein: it would take more than 60 minutes. >> safer: rubenstein's foray into patriotic philanthropy began on a whim when, on a business trip to new york, he heard the last privately held copy of the 800-year-old british magna carta would be auctioned off the next day and would most likely leave the country. rubenstein sent his wallet into action. >> rubenstein: the head auctioneer came in and said, "you just bought the magna carta. who are you?

we don't know who you are." and i explained. and they said, "okay, it can be yours, if you have the money. you do have the money for this?" i said yes. and they said, "okay, you can leave the side door, nobody ever know, or there's 100 reporters who want to know who bought it." and i said, "i will go out and talk to them, and tell them that i'm giving it to the country, in effect, as a down payment on my obligation to give back to the country." >> what are the symbols on the seal? >> safer: beyond the $21 million purchase price, rubenstein built a multimillion-dollar center at the national archives to showcase the document that served as the inspiration not only for our bill of rights but for all western democracies. >> rubenstein: if you are better informed about american history, you can be a better citizen. >> safer: his friend warren buffett says rubenstein's approach is unique. >> warren buffett: he may wake up in the morning without knowing what that philanthropic act is going to be by sundown. but something will spark his interest, and when it does he... he can move. >> safer: jonathan jarvis is director of the national park

service. he oversees the nation's memorials. have you ever had any offers of somebody who's come forth with his attitude and his dough? >> jonathan jarvis: not really. i think david is somewhat unique and is sort of occupying this space of patriotic philanthropy at the moment. >> safer: what else has he offered to pay for? >> jarvis: well, the next big project he did after the washington monument was the robert e. lee memorial which sits at arlington cemetery. he gave us $12.3 million to do a full restoration, and then he has also offered just recently $5 million to restore the marine corps war memorial, the iwo jima. david recognized that this is an opportunity to give back to the country, and also to recognize the marine corps, where his father served. >> rubenstein: the people in the house are wondering who are these crazy people who are out here. probably wondering whether i'm about to be indicted... >> safer: we traveled with rubenstein and his mother bettie to the home he grew up in in

working class baltimore. his father was a mail sorter at the post office. >> rubenstein: when i was growing up here, i didn't know exactly what i wanted to do. but i thought one thing i didn't want to do was what you wanted me to do. >> bettie rubenstein: and my dream, from a small child up that you become a dentist. >> safer: rubenstein disappointed his mother and instead went to law school. then, at age 27, he landed a job in the white house as an advisor to president carter. how would you rate yourself as a public servant? >> rubenstein: i enjoyed it very much. i'm not sure the country enjoyed what i did for the country. i like to say that there was a rumor that i was going to be promoted in the second term, and that's why president carter lost. and since i have left the white house, i can tell you honestly nobody's ever invited me back. >> safer: when he was booted from the white house along with jimmy carter in 1980, rubenstein tried lawyering but says he was terrible at it. so in 1987, he and two partners decided to start one of the first d.c.-based investment

firms, which they named after a new york hotel. what made you decide to call the company carlyle? >> rubenstein: carlyle sounded kind of british. and it sounded kind of... maybe not aristocratic, but sounded like you've been around for a while when we really hadn't been around. we were new. >> safer: it's now a global giant-- over $200 billion in assets. for years, the firm had a reputation as politically connected and secretive. carlyle's success made rubenstein a fortune. he says his wife alice and three kids support his decision to give most of it away. >> rubenstein: in the end, it's not clear that if you give a child $500 million, he or she will win a nobel prize for doing something. and i think if you give somebody too much money, it can force them not to work as hard and be as productive. >> safer: a cardinal sin, in rubenstein's eyes. and in 2010, he was one of the first to sign on to the giving pledge with bill gates and

warren buffett... >> rubenstein: the guy who was the map maker was from connecticut. >> safer: ...promising to give away at least half of his billions to worthy causes. >> buffett: i think many of the members of the giving society, and certainly including david, would like to have their last check bounce. i mean, that's the goal. ( laughs ) it's a little hard to time things perfectly so that happens. but there's no "forbes 400" in the graveyard. >> safer: like warren buffett, rubenstein isn't flashy. he drives a 20-year-old car, he doesn't drink or smoke, but he has allowed himself one super luxury-- a $65 million plane he uses to fly around the world an average of 200 days a year. he is a man in motion, appearing on tv... >> rubenstein: it's a global investment world that we are dealing with. >> safer: ...boosting his firm... >> rubenstein: and i started the first buyout firm in washington, d.c. >> safer: ...sitting on 26 not- for-profit boards... >> rubenstein: how many people have never been here before? >> safer: ...and taking his stand-up comedy routine on the

road. >> rubenstein: i became the deputy domestic policy advisor to the president of the united states, a job i obviously wasn't qualified for. but carter wasn't qualified, either, i thought, so... ( laughter ) >> safer: well, when you became wealthy enough to sit back, you remained a workaholic. >> rubenstein: it's not work for me. i am not under any pressure or stress when i'm doing this. when i... i'm trying to relax, if i ever do that, that's when i'm under stress. and i think i'm more likely to have a heart attack when i'm relaxing than when i'm under... i'm working. ♪ takes a lot of brains to do what we do ♪ looking for a way to make some dough for you >> safer: work now including learning how to rap after carlyle doubled its money in an investment in the headphone company beats by dre. >> rubenstein: ♪ we are global we're mobile, we're aiming to please ♪ only goal in mind, serve our l.p.s. >> rubenstein: i did meet dr. dre when we were first doing the deal, and we did a take-off on that for our holiday video. haven't done anything like this really since my bar mitzvah. and when i did it, it was supposed to take five minutes, and it took about four hours. and they had a young rap coach

for me to explain how to do this. and he said, "mr. rubenstein you are the whitest man i've ever met in my life." >> how are the legs? >> excellent. >> rubenstein: i didn't need a defibrillator. i didn't have to go to the hospital. >> safer: rubenstein may use self-deprecation as a form of bragging, and if you don't get the message, he puts his name on his good works. $20 million here, $75 million there soon adds up to real money. he even joked he put his initials at the top of the washington monument. >> rubenstein: i took my pen out and i put my initials on the very top of the washington monument. so if you ever get there, you will see my initials. >> safer: how important is the recognition? because you put your name on most of the things you support. is that i think what, to use a yiddish word, chutzpah? >> rubenstein: maybe i have a character flaw, and i haven't done it as anonymously because i'm trying to say to people, "i came from very modest circumstances. and look what i was able to do. you could do the same thing." >> safer: and while the vast

majority of his wealth goes to inanimate objects, rubenstein took care of d.c.'s favorite residents-- mama bear mei xiang, papa bear tian tian, and baby bear bao bao-- when the national zoo ran out of money. >> rubenstein: i said, "okay i'll put up the money to keep them here." because the chinese rent pandas. you pay $1 million a year, more or less, and you get two pandas. and the money goes for panda conservation. >> safer: sweet potato, right? >> rubenstein: pandas are the biggest attraction at the zoo. and when the government had its shutdown, people weren't calling in to say they weren't getting their social security checks or congress wasn't moving forward or anything. they were saying the panda-cam was shut down. >> safer: richard nixon first brought the pandas to the u.s. after his historic trip to china in 1972. panda diplomacy may have worked, but panda love life is another matter. you compared the relationship between male and female pandas with the u.s. congress.

>> rubenstein: members of congress know what they're supposed to do, but they don't know how to do it. the pandas know what they're supposed to do but they fumble. they come here with the best of intentions, but sometimes things don't work out the way that they're supposed to. >> safer: so it's bye-bye, bao bao, and thank you, mr. rubenstein. >> rubenstein: so i don't think anything i've said has impressed bao bao. >> safer: no, no. my name is willy, and this is my aha moment. we opened this food truck, and one of the big things that we do in our food truck is no one ever comes to our food truck and leaves without

food, whether they can afford to pay for it or not. because my food's so special to me, because it's my family's recipes and it's my grandparents' recipes, when i give that food to a homeless person that comes by and they can't afford it to see their smile on their face is like an aha moment we get everyday. allergies can distract you. so when your symptoms start, doctors recommend taking non-drowsy claritin every day of your allergy season. with claritin, you get powerful, non-drowsy relief 24 hours a day, day after day. which is important because with fewer symptoms to distract you you can focus on the extraordinary things you do every

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>> kroft: "60 minutes" is constantly on the lookout for places we've never been before. so when our late colleague bob

simon heard about a magical place in the hebrides islands off the coast of scotland known for making some of the great whiskies in the world, well, the story spoke to him. the place is called islay, and it's one of five whisky- producing regions in scotland that make an expensive type of scotch called single malt. islay's distilleries turn out relatively small amounts of their own handcrafted brands for a worldwide luxury market that's more than doubled in size in the last decade, and become the spirit equivalent of the fine wine business. bob liked good scotch and beautiful places, so he went off to scotland. he died before he could finish the piece, leaving behind a stack of video tapes and some random notes. we decided to finish it for him and raise a glass in his memory. islay is a small island 20 miles off the west coast of scotland. there are few trees, miles of windswept heather, and some of the most fertile agricultural

land in scotland. there are sheep and cattle everywhere, and an abundance of wildlife. but that's not why people come here. this is. eight small distilleries that produce some of the world's finest single malt whiskies. >> jim mcewan: this is the whole lifeblood of this island and everybody on it. this is all we know. >> kroft: jim mcewan has been working in islay's distilleries since he was 15 years old. he's now master of the works at bruichladdich. >> mcewan: i just thank god that he chose the scots and gave them whisky because we appreciate the gift and we look after it. >> kroft: they've been making it here since the 15th century when, supposedly, some monks taught the locals how to use barley, water, and yeast to make a spirit the scots now call "the water of life." they have been perfecting it for 600 years. the distilleries are easy to find, but hard to pronounce-- ardbeg, bowmore, bruichladdich bunnahabain, caol ila, kilchoman, lagavulin and

laphroaig. as bob simon noted, they get harder to pronounce the more you visit. >> mcewan: for us guys on the west coast of scotland, whisky is a religion, because it's a provider. and the great thing about whisky, it's not just a drink-- it's much more than that. have you ever watched some old hollywood movies? >> simon: yes, i have. >> mcewan: scotch was always portrayed in hollywood as a whisky, when you were down or you were in trouble, the one thing that was going to get you back on your feet and out there was a scotch. >> kroft: today, if you are down on your luck, you probably can't afford an islay single malt. the good ones start at around $70 a bottle; the rare ones can go for hundreds of dollars a glass at chic whisky bars around the world, where they are known for their distinctive smokey taste. it comes from peat, the mossy earthen fuel that's cut from bogs on the island. it was used to heat scottish homes for centuries, and is still used to toast the barley at islay distilleries.

john campbell is the master distiller at laphroaig, one of the top-selling single malts in america. >> john campbell: peat is the thing that makes islay unique, and it really resonates with people and it just engenders a kind of love/hate relationship. and the people that love it absolutely love it with a passion. >> kroft: and there seems to be no shortage of them. islay is not easy get to usually requiring multiple flights, a long drive, and a two-hour ferry ride, yet enthusiasts continue to make the pilgrimage, especially for the whisky festival. >> mcewan: we get literally thousands upon thousands of single malt tourists coming here. they come from all over the world just to set foot on islay. >> simon: to study it? >> mcewan: no, to drink it. it's lovely. it's clean. it's fresh. it's vibrant. >> kroft: officially, whisky fest is a celebration of islay's culture, but mostly it's about drinking. >> mcewan: it's absolutely beautiful. no off notes at all. >> kroft: as they listened to jim mcewan extol the virtues of

bruichladdich, the novitiates, connoisseurs, and whisky snobs approached each glass with reverence bordering on the religious. >> mcewan: ah, wow, the fruit in that is incredible. >> kroft: as the glasses empty the smiles got bigger. but the islanders will tell you that all of this warmth and good feeling comes not from the alcohol in the spirits, but from the spirit of the place. it is almost mystical-- beautiful, dramatic and quiet. there's no road rage, barely any traffic. if you do get hung up, it's probably because of a farm animal. they have the right of way. and if you do happen upon people, they'll almost always greet you with the islay wave. >> ailsa hayes: everybody just waves because it's just friendly. there's not so many of us, so you just wave to say hi. >> kroft: it's what ailsa hayes liked about the island when she moved her family here from london to take a manager's position at one of islay's thriving distilleries. >> simon: it's strange, is it

not, that such a small place with so few people, your products are known everywhere in the world? >> hayes: i know. well, it makes us all very proud, it does. there's such a boom, worldwide for single malt. it's fantastic. and you can really feel that on the island, a lot of the distilleries have double production. and so there's a lot of opportunities there, as well. >> simon: and there's no reason to believe that won't continue? >> hayes: well, times are good people drink. times are bad, people drink. ( laughs ) >> simon: is it possible to be socially acceptable to be a teetotaler on this island? >> hayes: yes. >> simon: are there any? >> hayes: yes. not... i'm not one of them. ( laughter ) >> kroft: over the years, the island's people have learned how to entertain themselves, often at gatherings called ceilidhs, which feature traditional dance and sad songs, mostly about leaving islay and yearning to return. >> ♪ to sit with my love on the bridge above the rippling waterfall

♪ to go back home, never more to roam ♪ is my dearest wish of all. >> dave: if this looks and feels a lot like ireland, that's no coincidence. it's only 25 miles away. they come from the same tribe, share the same celtic culture and gaelic language, not to mention a love of good whisky that gets them through stormy weather and the long winter nights. there are no movie theaters on islay, no dry cleaners, no supermarket, no mcdonald's, at least in the fast-food business. jim mcewan says there is a long list of things that islay doesn't have and doesn't want. >> mcewan: we don't have any crime, we don't have mugging carjacking, house breaking rape, just... dope, drugs, we don't have that. you can keep that. you're very welcome to it. >> simon: how do you explain the

fact that there's no crime here? there's crime everywhere else. >> mcewan: if you commit a crime in a small community, you'll be ostracized and have to leave. not only that, your family-- your children and your children's children will be remembered as the children of the man who committed the crime. >> kroft: most scots are forthright, practical people who are proud of their country and the fact that their most famous export has withstood the test of time. they see themselves as artisans, and making whisky is more about art and alchemy than manufacturing. every distiller has their own secrets and superstitions. we'll give you the unclassified two-minute tour. sorry we can't offer you free samples. it begins with a bit of trickery on the malting floor when barley that's been soaked in water is spread out and raked over and over to convince the grain its spring and time to germinate releasing the starches that are locked inside. it's then dried with peat smoke to add flavor, and ground into

flour, sometimes with 19th century machinery, and then mixed with hot water transforming the starches into a sugary concoction called mash. >> mcewan: smell that, bob. isn't that... you can smell the goodness. >> kroft: yeast is then added, changing the sugar into alcohol, a primitive ale, which is then cooked a couple of times in copper stills, where the vapor is collected and condensed into this clear liquid. >> mcewan: and that's the stuff we want to go into the barrel. >> simon: but what i'm looking at, this looks like rubbing alcohol. this is, in fact, the whisky. >> mcewan: it's very good if you need a rub, there's no doubt about it. >> simon: i bet it would be good. but once this goes into the barrel, from then, it's just time? >> mcewan: it's just time. it's a great journey, you know. this is a child, but the cask is the mother, and that's what makes the journey. if you get a good cask, you're bound to get a good child, it's that simple. >> kroft: it take less than three weeks to make, but

requires at least ten years of aging in these oak casks, which add flavor and color, to turn it into world-class single malt whisky. >> mcewan: you'll see some of the names. there's clermont springs buffalo trace, jim beam. >> kroft: bob was surprised to learn that 97% of the casks used to make single malt whisky had been previously used to age american bourbon, and bought secondhand from u.s. distillers. it's testimony to the ingenuity and frugality of the scots, who have very few oak trees. >> mcewan: without the american barrels, there would be no whisky industry. it's as simple as that. >> kroft: a sophisticated palate will detect a hint of the oak and bourbon in islay's single malt, as well as the sweetness of sherry that comes from wine casks bought in europe. before the final product is sold, it will have done time in a number of different casks. master distiller jim mcewan is the one who decides when to rotate them and when each barrel is ready to be bottled. he opened a young cask for bob to sample.

>> mcewan: i would describe that as mellow yellow. absolutely pure. >> simon: and it's only seven years old? >> mcewan: that's right. young whiskies are like young people-- they're vibrant they're full of life. in fact, this for me is like coming home from work at the end of the day. i worked really hard-- nobody appreciates me, my wife doesn't appreciate me, my kids don't appreciate me, life's a bitch. >> simon: couple glasses of that and it doesn't matter. >> mcewan: couple of shots of that and i am the king of the world. >> simon: absolutely. you know, frankly i never liked this stuff, but the way... you're talking me into it. >> mcewan: but you've got to check every barrel. >> simon: i certainly hope so. cheers. >> kroft: mcewan is the man responsible for the taste and consistency of the whiskies at bruichladdich, which requires a very personal involvement with the product. >> simon: i have heard you described as the "cask whisperer." >> mcewan: i do talk to casks. there's no doubt about it... >> simon: in what language? >> mcewan: mainly english. depends how many whiskeys i've had. if i've had a few whiskies, i

tend to revert to the gaelic language when i'm talking to the casks. it's just one of these things-- you go into the warehouse and you pop the bung out. you draw your sample, yeah, and you look at it. and you think, "wow, you know, beautiful. but you're not just ready yet. tell you what, i'm going to come back and see you in three months, okay." and other times, you find a cask which is so incredibly good, you can't not speak-- "oh, my god, you are the most beautiful thing i have ever tasted in my life." you know, and it's like, oh geez, i just want to share this with somebody. but there's nobody around. there's just me and the casks. >> simon: we'll stay. ( laughter ) >> kroft: on most days, mcewan devotes several hours to quality control, checking up on several hundred casks. >> mcewan: but it's a fantastic job-- nosing and tasting whiskies. >> simon: and you can still walk out of here in the evening? >> mcewan: occasionally, i need some help. there's no doubt about that, yeah. >> kroft: dying devotion to one's whisky is apparently not all that unusual.

while we were on islay, the camera crew ran into a party of canadians, the friends and family of a deceased single malt lover named bill who wanted his ashes scattered in the waters opposite his favorite distillery. funds for the pilgrimage were set aside in his will. >> it's what he wanted. it's good. it's good. >> to bill! >> to bill. >> now, he's happy. now, he's happy. >> kroft: after that, the only thing left was for bob to say goodbye to jim mcewan. and now, it turned out to be last call for our old pal, bob simon. >> mcewan: cheers, bob. hope you've enjoyed this little visit here. >> simon: you're speaking in the past. it's not over. >> mcewan: yeah, i've got to get you out of here, man. ( laughter ) this is... you're costing me a fortune. >> picking up the pieces-- how bob simon's unfinished whiskey island story finally

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a colorado viewer wrote this: "one sentence really caught my attention: 'the important thing is to avoid a shooting war that could create so much debris that it might become impossible to put satellites or astronauts into orbit.' i suppose that debris would also make it impossible for hostile alien invaders to get through from space." i'm steve kroft. we'll be back next week with another edition of "60 minutes." tomorrow be sure to watch "cbs this morning." >> to listen to "60 minutes" and subscribe to our podcast, go to play.it, the podcast network. hear some of your favorite "60 minutes" stories. that's where at&t can help.

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